Virginia Gov. John Battle visited campus for the dedication of the Fine Arts Center – duPont, Pollard, and Melchers halls – the weekend of May 9, 1953. There was an arts festival and much fanfare, including a procession by 120 academic delegates from the Gothic Room of Ann Carter Lee Hall to the south colonnade of Melchers, according to Edward Alvey Jr.’s History of Mary Washington College.
Pictured here on the terrace of Lee Hall, the governor is flanked by two flag bearers. We hope someone can tell us the flag bearers’ names and perhaps remember the events of the weekend.
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It took some sleuthing, but we now know the student pictured in a former chemistry lab in Combs Hall is Orita Whitehead Martin, who attended Mary Washington from 1967 through 1969 before earning a degree from a college in Colorado. Anita Whitehead Scott ’71 confirmed her sister’s identity for the magazine.
We’re grateful for help from Susan Brown Strong ’68 and retired Mary Washington employee Jane H. Marra, both of whom thought the photo was from the 1960s rather than the attributed 1980s date.
To be sure, we asked Professor Emerita of Chemistry Judith A. Crissman. She recognized the setting as the former analytical chemistry laboratory and noted that the student was wearing a dress, a formality rarely seen after the late 1960s. And she pointed out that by the 1980s, safety goggles would have been required for lab work.
With the 1960s date in mind, Head of Special Collections and University Archives Carolyn Sydnor Parsons ’83 pointed us toward the Whitehead sisters, and we soon … [Read more...]